Russia names Putin’s new ‘super weapons’ after a quirky public vote

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia has unveiled the names for a brand new technology of nuclear-powered missiles touted by President Vladimir Putin as invincible after greater than seven million individuals took half in a unusual public vote organized by the Russian navy.

The names chosen embody ‘Peresvet,’ after a medieval warrior monk, for a laser and ‘Burevestnik,’ after a seabird, for a cruise missile.

The arms techniques, which Putin revealed in a bellicose state-of-the-nation speech this month, embody a nuclear-powered cruise missile, an underwater nuclear-powered drone, and a laser weapon.

Putin has typically used militaristic rhetoric to mobilize assist and buttress his narrative that Russia is beneath siege from the West, and a few critics complain that public discourse more and more resembles that of a rustic at conflict.

The fruits of the “identify that weapon” vote comes amid fears in each Russia and the West a few new arms race, one thing Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump have stated they do not need, and after Putin gained a landslide re-election victory.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence requested the general public to call the weapons techniques in a web based vote, one thing it has by no means finished earlier than, and unveiled the outcomes late on Thursday on state TV.

After the outcomes had been introduced, Deputy Defence Minister Yuri Borisov defined on state TV, to ripples of applause, what the brand new weapons had been able to.

WARRIOR MONK, GREEK GOD AND SEABIRD

The protection ministry stated Russians had voted to call the brand new navy laser ‘Peresvet’ after a medieval warrior monk, Alexander Peresvet, who took half in a 14th century battle towards the Mongols. Peresvet is revered by some clerics within the Russian Orthodox Church, whose affect has grown beneath Putin.

The successful identify for the underwater nuclear drone was extra standard – ‘Poseidon’ after the Greek god of the ocean, drawing criticism from some Russians who complained the identify was too overseas.

The brand new nuclear-powered cruise missile, which Putin has boasted might hit virtually any level on the earth and evade a U.S.-built missile protect, shall be referred to as ‘Burevestnik,’ Russian for the Storm Petrel chook, the protection ministry stated.

Putin’s boasts in regards to the new weapons have been greeted with scepticism in Washington, the place officers have forged doubt on whether or not Russia has added any new capabilities to its nuclear arsenal past these already recognized to the U.S. navy and intelligence businesses.

Among the many advised names for the weapons techniques that didn’t make the ultimate reduce: ‘Stalin,’ after the Soviet dictator, and ‘Palmyra,’ after the Syrian metropolis which Russian forces helped Syrian President Bashar al-Assad take again from Islamic State.